Key Takeaways
- “Gifted Week” featured concerts, workshops, and panels that highlighted D.C.’s creative and youth communities.
- Wale’s eighth studio album, everything is a lot., debuted during the week’s festivities.
- The project explores Wale’s personal and industry journey, with guest appearances from Ty Dolla $ign, Andra Day, and others.
For the second year in a row, the DMV united around one of their most visible cultural figures as Wale hosted his annual “Gifted Week” alongside management team EQT, community frontrunner Made In The DMV (headed by Angela Byrd), and other entities. This year’s events also coincided with the release of Wale’s eighth studio album, everything is a lot., and a highly anticipated concert with Jeremih and go-go outfit TOB as the supporting acts.
“Gifted Week” was founded in 2024 as an initiative aimed at strengthening connections across the DMV’s creative, athletic, and entertainment sectors. The series builds on Wale’s lifelong relationship with the region following years of local performances, community partnerships, and his 2024 Kennedy Center anniversary show marking a decade of The Gifted. Notably, it was during that performance when D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser issued an official proclamation establishing Nov. 10 as “Wale Day.” The overall goal remains consistent: Create spaces for young people, emerging artists, and local stakeholders to collaborate, learn, and tap into the broader creative ecosystem.
Inside Gifted Week 2025: Youth, creativity, and culture take center stage
In addition to the concert, the previous year’s inaugural run offered a blueprint full of fashion, design, sports, music, and other facets of the arts. For 2025, it had similar elements, beginning with a surprise appearance at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where Wale served as principal for a day. The festivities continued with 2025’s first scheduled event, the Washington Commanders-backed Youth Football Clinic, which connected local athletes with hands-on coaching and mentorship.
On Nov. 11, Wale shifted to Southeast D.C.’s Sycamore & Oak for the Sneaker Design Workshop. The multiuse commercial hub, home to a variety of Black-owned businesses, hosted young participants who customized their own shoes with guidance from a few of the area’s most notable artists. In addition to serving as a reflection of Wale’s consistent interests (because let’s not act like he hasn’t been running urban fashion), the workshop was amazing as a direct platform for youth creativity in a place rooted in Southeast’s revitalization efforts.
The week continued on Nov. 12 with the D.C. Poetry Jam at Grounded, a Southeast café, plant shop, and wellness space. The event gathered poets who shared work focused on personal challenges, relationship struggles, and the broader social issues affecting communities in D.C. and beyond. While Wale did not perform, he used the event to speak briefly about the purpose behind “Gifted Week” and his desire to give back to the region through programming that reflects his own passions.
The most discussion-heavy event took place on Nov. 13 during the State of Black Media panel. Featuring NPR journalist Sommer Hill, HuffPost editor and Washington Association of Black Journalists president Phil Lewis, and other local voices, the conversation examined the decline of Black-owned media outlets, the rise of AI in content creation, the challenges journalists face within corporate newsrooms, and the importance of independent platforms. Wale contributed his perspective as an artist navigating interviews, public narratives, and shifting media dynamics, noting past experiences with misrepresentation and inattentive interviewers. Both panelists and audience members engaged in a wide-ranging discussion about authenticity, access, and maintaining cultural integrity in an evolving media landscape.
Wale’s everything is a lot. arrived with a new creative focus
All of the aforementioned ran parallel to the release of everything is a lot., Wale’s first full-length project under Def Jam Recordings. The album was also his first studio release since 2021’s Folarin II and followed his 2023 departure from Maybach Music Group, where he spent over a decade and earned multiple Billboard 200 Top 10 albums, including 2013’s The Gifted and 2015’s The Album About Nothing (both of which topped said chart). Speaking with Billboard, Wale explained how the album reflects the weight of the pressures he processed over the previous four years. “One of the underlying things is how heavy everything is in the world around me, my personal life, and the industry,” he explained. “I carried all of that with me and got it out of my system through this project.”
The album features appearances from the likes of Ty Dolla $ign, Leon Thomas, ODUMODUBLVCK, BNYX, and Andra Day, and includes tracks that draw on blues, soul, and African influences. The lead single “Blanco,” sees him addressing his toxic relationship with alcohol while “Power and Problems” is a powerful, emotionally charged message from a man who has lived long enough in the spotlight to know its dangers. Wale described the album’s approach as an attempt “to express a certain level of vulnerability,” and it’s clear upon pressing play that his writing process was driven by capturing immediate emotion rather than crafting elaborate concepts.
Between the growing footprint of “Gifted Week” and the release of everything is a lot., Wale’s connection to D.C. remains central to his work. The week stands as a proper platform for the communities that helped shape his career, while the album marks a significant milestone in his extensive career.